Best Manor?

CradonWar

I'd like to learn what people think about manors. I couldn't start a poll because there are more manor than allowed poll options. Which one do you think is the best manor and why? Or do you think smaller better? Here's the latest list of them:

• Coldharbour Surreal Estate
• Colossal Aldmeri Grotto
• Daggerfall Overlook
• Earthtear Cavern
• Ebonheart Chateau
• Grand Psijic Villa
• Grand Topal Hideaway
• Hakkvild's High Hall
• Hunter's Glade
• Lakemire Xanmeer Manor
• Linchal Grand Manor
• Princely Dawnlight Palace
• Serenity Falls Estate
• Tel Galen Tower
• The Erstwhile Sanctuary

P.S: I only have free Grand Psijic Villa from Summerfall Event but I may want to buy another, haven't decided on that yet.

Shadow_Akula

In my view it depends on the theme you want to decorate the house with
e.g. colossal Aldmeri Grotto is brilliant to turn into a militarised cove with plenty of siege (as what I’m currently doing) but for other things... item limits are a pain, whereas something like the overlook while yes can be militarised it is also small enough to use the item limit effectively and still have the house looking filled rather than empty...
And then coldharbour being a blank slate.... 700 item limit includes building materials like walls and floors so again kinda a pain in my opinion...

When I preview a house, I do so multiple times and envision several ideas of what I could or could not do with it before deciding to buy or not to buy.

S.A.96

Aurie

Have you tried ESO Fashion's Homes List for instant out-of-game reference?

https://eso.mmo-fashion.com/homes-list/

This site gives a far better idea of what each property looks like, as it has video tours, and masses of screenshots of both furnished and unfurnished versions, as well as the rest of the info.

Also in the housing section there is a huge database of furnishings of all types.

And if all that isn't enough you can get sidetracked by, for example, the outfitters section. I find this incredibly useful for previewing armour and weapon styles before crafting them.

Anyway....an all-round excellent site.

Back on topic though, out of all those manors Daggerfall Outlook is probably the best one to pick if you are going for mainly traditional decorating, and does lend itself to interior and exterior structural alterations.

But many of the others are great for custom builds if you are into that, and don't feel like following the usual furnishing path.

You do have to be careful with some of them, as they can tend to be very dark inside, which means wasting too many precious item slots on lighting. But that goes for all sized houses.

One property which really should have been classed as a manor and attracted the 350/700 limit is Hundings Palatial Hall. This is a delightful home in the Redguard style with large entrance courtyard as well as grounds, and its own beach. You can even make use of the roof terraces with a judiciously placed staircase....well worth a look if you like that style.

As for the manor v. smaller houses, manors are very hard to fully decorate within the item limit, although not impossible. Small/medium homes tend to do much better with their lesser item slots, although the allocation for inn rooms/appartments is laughable.

I would look at some of the properties on the above site first, and then follow that up with a proper preview ingame. Do consider buying furnished, as that can often be a very good value way of acquiring basic decorating stuff in the style of the house, usually with a number of more expensive items included in the price....and which you can move around, store or use in other houses as you wish.

Whatever you choose in the end, have fun! And a word of warning....housing is intensely addictive, and can be a drain on resources...both game and irl.

chuck-18_ESO

All of the manors are rather unique, with their own flavors and personalities, so to speak, and their own ideal applications. There's a huge design difference between the Grand Topal and the Erstwhile Sanctuary, for example, and one would probably go about decorating the two with entirely different themes and feels. Each Manor also has its own pros and cons, so which is 'best' is a matter of opinion.

That being said, my personal favorite is Tel Galen Tower, for a variety of reasons. It fulfills everything I'm looking for in a Manor; but like all the Manors, it's far from perfect.

Pros:

• Snug interior + properly sectioned rooms (with functioning doors!) makes for much easier decorating than the massive empty spaces common in most Manors.
• A similarly snug yet sizable courtyard that's already covered with colorful flowers, making it easier to make beautiful with less furnishings. (I was able to build a cave in the back with volcanic plugs over the surface of the water; it turned out marvelously.)
• A beautiful coastal view complete with a dock.
• Extremely high outdoor 'ceiling' allowing you to build all the way to the top of the Tower, which offers one of the greatest views in the entire game (IMO obviously).
• Come on, that Levitation Pad to the upper chamber is absolutely wicked.
• One of the cheapest of the Manors.

Cons:

• The mushroom textures on the Tower itself garner mixed reviews, to put it lightly. This is, arguably, intentional; Telvanni towers aren't designed to be inviting, idyllic elven villas. But plenty of people hate the Tower for that reason alone.
• Designing the interior requires cleverly working with the various roots of the mushroom that sprout through the walls and whatnot, as opposed to having simple open rooms to work with.
• Some of the rooms are a bit small compared to others.
• Lack of a built-in balcony (an iconic aspect of Telvanni towers) is probably the biggest fault with the Tower, though one can build ramps up the tower's exterior, making use of the various giant mushrooms jutting out to cut down on required furnishings. It's still tedious to build, and doubly so to make it look decent, as well as the added inconvenience of having to run up a HUGE section of ramps instead of just entering a door and coming out on top.
• The courtyard is very rocks and rough, making placing certain large structures and chairs tricky, and is considerably smaller than those in some other Manors.

A similar list could be made for all the Manors. At the end of the day, it's just a matter of what vision you have for your home.

bayushi2005

It is like comparing apples to oranges, they are all very different and everything depends on what build you want to execute.

The most versatile will be Coldharbour Surreal Estate (flat slab, huge house boundaries) followed by Grand Topal Hideaway (I absolutely hate argonian reed houses there, but that's my preference). Hunter's Glade can hold nice custom builds but its "ceiling" is low.

I woudn't suggest Lakemire Xanmeer Manor if you plan on changing the interior, it is really difficult to alter. Lots of corridors and small rooms. Exterior gives more possibilities.

Linchal Grand Manor is nice if you're ok with running through a big garden to get to a medium sized house, but the interior is quite satisfying.

The Erstwhile Sanctuary is quite challenging again, huge cavern, quite difficult to furnish rooms, fairly nice trophy area, but it definitely has it's "dark charm".

You did not mention Pariah's Pinnacle (must be a manor, it's huge) which is a nice option as well, big boundaries, one very big room, nice valley for you to use and plenty of space by the left side of the entrance if you want to build on platforms.

It was already mentioned, but I shall repeat - housing is highly addictive and can drain your gold in seconds...

Tigerseye

Topal.

Not only is it like taking a vacation (or a holiday, as we call it here) in the game, it also has the advantage of feeling like it has a reasonable furnishing limit, despite have tons of space.

As you can focus on lighting and decorating the walkways and the huts, mainly and so, can concentrate most of your items in a few spots.

That's obviously assuming you don't build too much, don't try to add attunable stations (an insane system, which destroys any furnishing limit) and leave the island itself fairly natural/as is.

At first, I thought the top hut would end up being a liability, as they didn't even add shutters to the inside.

However, there are ways around that and you can make it look pretty good.

Just because they are reed huts, doesn't mean you have to only put Argonian/Murkmire furnishings in them (which can look pretty dull and grey, when used inside), so they can end up feeling quite luxurious.

Tigerseye

bayushi2005 wrote: »

You did not mention Pariah's Pinnacle (must be a manor, it's huge) which is a nice option as well, big boundaries, one very big room, nice valley for you to use and plenty of space by the left side of the entrance if you want to build on platforms.

The (other) way you did Pariah's was certainly amazing.

LeHarrt91

Yeah it depends on personal preference but I absolutely love my Linchals Grand Manor, and the reason being is that the house is small and the garden is huge. The house is basically a giant trophy room, and the barn has all my stations in it.

Tigerseye

Just to add, I wouldn't bother with most of them, personally.

I just don't think they're nice/well designed/flexible enough to bother, with the current furnishing limit.

I might end up purchasing one or two more of them, but only if I suddenly find myself with excess gold and nothing better to do with it.

The Khajiit houses are nice, for example, but they have such a strong interior decor already that it severely limits what you can put in them, unless you entirely change that; by cladding the interior in marble, or something.

There is only so much satisfaction you can gain from arranging mainly Khajiit (with a few Redguard) furnishings in a Khajiit house.

Really, we need some way of painting walls and adding new textures to things.

Also, with the exception of somewhere like Topal, I would far prefer a Large type house, like Hunding's, or the Alinor Townhouse (only with a basement), assuming their furnishing limits were bumped up to 700, than I would most Manors/Notables.

Both could have a larger outside area, as well, as I tend to be happy to leave most exteriors fairly natural, but as soon as an interior is really huge and/or badly designed, it leads to problems.

...and no, the answer is not an even more truncated and illogical version of a copy/paste Elsweyr palace, with no bedrooms at all (Jode's Embrace).

The answer is more large, but not huge, logical, well planned interior spaces.

The Hew's Bane Palace is nice, in terms of its location and architecture, but until they make a giant Redguard chandelier, with a very long chain, it will always suffer from it's low furnishing limit to interior size ratio.

Darkmage1337

Linchal is my favorite because of the theme (Imperial style), the location (The Gold Coast -- The Dark Brotherhood & Kvatch story/relevance), and Linchal was one of the first manors released; so, I'm partial to what I got when it was originally offered. Players have way more choices now compared to two years ago. If I could trade it in or re-choose, I'd probably still choose Linchal Grand Manor over the other newer options.
My only gripe with Linchal is that the surrounding walls and watch-towers are purely cosmetic and not functional and fully accessible, except two near the front gate, but many other manors and houses have this same problem, too. Alas, Linchal Grand Manor is probably the closest ESO will get to Oblivion's Battlehorn Castle. It's too bad my Linchal Grand Manor won't still be there in 750 years. I wonder what happened. Haha.
Until then, I'll stand on Linchal's castle wall and stare at Kvatch from a distance.

Awaiting its eventual beautiful destruction.

(Hail Sithis!) *cue eerie Dark Brotherhood theme sound effects*

Alexsae

For a general homey feel, great location and nice garden, Linchal is a wonderful choice. The hubby has that house, and I keep wondering if I should get it next time around.

I have quite a few homes and 6 manors, and my favorite by far is the Colossal Aldmeri Grotto. I like that it has enough outdoor space for a variety of statues without feeling cluttered and mismatched. I like the two options for making a more traditional home space (inside the ship and up on the hill). Its location next to a Wayshrine and near good harvesting is very nice. It has good options for setting up your trophies. Personally, I need to live by the ocean, so the Grotto ticks that off my list too.

The downside is you will need to make some decorating choices and be ok with it. You just won't be able to do it all with a 700 limit. Even with that irritation, though, it's a beautiful home. I am bumping up against my 700 limit, and it doesn't feel sparsely decorated to me.

*Edited to add you're welcome to tour it if you like.

Aurie

Ha, I forgot about Colossal Aldomeri Grotto!

Yes, that is a lovely place

I totally ignored the ship, got rid of most of the corally thingies, unnecessary low-lying scrub and all the furniture, and then built an airy villa right on the beach with a viewing platform looking out over the ocean above the upturned wrecked hull.....especially spectacular at sunset!

That was my first custom build, and still needs revisiting to finish off stuff. I'll post screenies of it when it's done.

Lol, quite forgot about it

Edit: Oh and yes, Linchal too....no custom build there, but the garden lends itself to all kinds of loveliness, and as you say, Alexsae, the house really can be homey....and super terrace for drinks and BBQs.

Another one to revisit and finish off....getting quite excited now

.

TheImperfect

I really like all of them but of course have preferences,

Earthtear cavern, Psijic, Topal, Hunter's glade, Xanmeer, Erstwhile & Tel Galen probably my favs not that I own all of these. I have Topal and Psijic. I like the others too.

Chryseia

@Aurelle1 same here! Grotto was my first home and it was a custom build. Grotto is actually a great place to build if you want to do custom, because the ceiling is HUGE and the boundaries go pretty far out over the water if you don't want to build inside a cave. Personally, I built really high up over the outward facing cliffside:

However, as much as I love grotto (for the views and the ceiling), I realize its not for everyone, and one of the tradeoffs was that I had to remove every other decor that came on that plot by default (trees, ruins, coral, etc) to make item slot space to build that structure. OP, best advice I can give you: visit each one and choose the one that inspires YOU the most -- if you love it, you will inevitiably creat something amazing! Just make sure you ask someone who already has it about the ceiling height, and any invisible walls, if you think the height/space will matter to you.

sueblue

I am going to have to go with Coldharbour. At just over a million gold it's my favorite house because it can be any house.

Aurie

@Chryseia Your custom build looks really interesting (and precarious!)....have you got more screenies you can showcase in a separate thread, because I'd love to see them

SantieClaws

What platform and server are you on traveller?

The best way to make a decision may be to visit some other homes and see what can be done with them.

Khajiit founded Claws Temple and Spa Resort at the Pricey Dawnlight Palalce. Topal is now Sugar Island - including The Centre for Sugar Studies. The Elf villa is now Claws Great Mall. You are welcome in any of them, although Sugar Island won't be fully complete yet for a week or so until the Elsweyr plants arrive.

If this one is to recommend any of them she would say Topal because much of the space is outdoors and therefore you avoid the main large house issue which is poor indoor lighting.

Yours with paws
Santie Claws

dtsharples

For me I have to say the Daggerfall Overlook + the Coldharbour Estate.
I bought the Overlook with £ but it can be bought with in-game gold, just like Coldharbour Estate.

I turned the Overlook into a 'Home', basically everything an adventurer + crafter would need.
I managed to fill each of the rooms well, they don't look empty + the main courtyard. The only bit that I didn't do anything with is the seawater at the back, which I had planned to turn into a small dock but would need another 50 items slots or so.
The Coldharbour estate I'm made into a duelling arena, great fun starting from scratch

Chryseia

@Aurelle1 Thank you! I am not quite 100% "done" with it yet... there are a few tweaks I still want to make. But I will definitely post a discussion with screenshots when its ready!

method__01

it depends,if you need space,Coldharbour Estate is the place for you f.e i got all crafting stations in center still room left got storing furniture,statues etc
for mag toons, i suggest Tel Galen,not very roomy inside but cozy af, outside can place and experiment almost with everything
dark elf culture,depression and volcano's while ash falling type: Ebonheart Chateau
High elf : Grand Psijic Villa

ps: if u love Vvardenfel there is a diamond called Amaya Lake Lodge-not notable but excellent in terms of space and Hlaalu architecture,plz check before buy anything else ,its one of my favorites

Ye_Olde_Crowe

Personally, I like Linchal the most because it's near Kvatch, and I have nostalgic feelings regarding Kvatch . Besides, I found it rather easy to decorate because of its layout: a big, yet segmented garden area and a well-sized (but not too huge) house.

Topal - as has been mentioned already - has this holiday feeling and is also rather easy to decorate, so it's the runner up.

I like pretty much all of the others as well, except perhaps Hakkvild's. It's layout is too... special for my taste, with this misshapen central building. My poor characters have set up their bedrolls in the tower room instead. Though the outside area might be suited to do a Renaissance fair kind of build, with many market stalls and such. Hmmm...

I don't own Daggerfall because my son (he's sort of my 'style guide' IRL) found it too generic, and I don't have the big kitty manor, either (forgot its name), though that one is still on my 'will buy someday' list.

I second (or third) the honorable mention of Hunding's Palatial Hall, by the way. Not a manor, but it should be - it's big, has a nice layout and a nice outside area. Just not the corresponding price tag.

dtsharples

The fact that the Overlook is 'Generic' is why it has worked so well for me
I have lots of racial styles throughout the home, and they all work because of the simplistic Breton architecture.

Breton Kitchen.
Redguard Bar.
Mixed Breton + Redguard Banquet Hall.
Redguard Indoor Garden room.
Imperial Performance stage.
Dunmeri Study.
Alinor Library.
Hlallu Bedroom + Bathroom.
Khajiit Bar + Skooma Den in the Basement.

Ye_Olde_Crowe

Sonny saying it's 'generic' doesn't mean I didn't like it . But I couldn't decide which of the three 'regular' manors to buy back then, so I asked my son who absolutely favored the Ebonheart Chateau due to the neighborhood volcano and ashes and stuff.
I then bought that one nekkid... and it still doesn't hold more furniture than a bed, a few chests and one of the Daedric thrones. Probably because I find the place rather depressing.

dtsharples

Oh I know I didn't take it as that.
I just wanted people to know that it does lend itself well to lots of different styles.
I actually like the Ebonheart Chateau, it just needs a lot of light to stop it looking like a horror house :P
The Khajiit one on the other hand - not my thing at all, far too cramped and small inside.